October 9, 2024
A fairly low key morning before grabbing some food in town and busing it out to the Taronga Zoo Sydney – I was not leaving OZ without seeing a Koala bear or two. My time on Australia was closed out with a fancy dinner at Arthur – a perfect goodbye.
October 7, 2024
A nice breakfast before a not too far walk the UTS campus, followed up with a couple of buses rides out to Middle Head Battery for some exploring and beach time.
October 6, 2024
Wandering around the Justice and Police Museum, tasty Japanese lunch, exploring the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, and watching the NRL Grand Final in rugby with the locals.
September 28, 2024
Rain! Lots of rain overnight and into the morning. And cold. It is got down to 12 degrees (well 52 Fahrenheit) overnight and this morning it was hats, jeans, and sweatshirts for everyone. Clearly we are no longer in the tropics. A relaxing morning gave me a chance to call home and just as important have a call with a…
September 27, 2024
No resting for us, with a strong southern blow coming that brought rain overnight, we wanted to leave the dock as early as possible. I had scouted a breakfast takeout place nearby and snagged a breakfast wrap and latte as soon as they opened. Back to Sky Pond it was time to go! Off the dock at 5:45am we made…
September 26, 2024
Overnight, at times it was a bit loud and the boat rolled uncomfortably, but nothing like we had seen previously, maybe a 3 out of 5. On my 3:00am watch the wind was up to 18 knots, so off went the engine. Our speed was bouncing between 5.5 and 6.0 knots, which would be fine. Continuing my podcast listening kept…
September 22, 2024
Very little wind overnight and currents against us ensured the past 24 hours would NOT be a record day. Blerg. After the sun came up, I let the fishing line out and with it, hopes for tuna for dinner. After our daily coffee, weather check, and reading the news, Carl noticed a fish skimming the surface being chased by something.…
September 18, 2024
Change of plans again, the forecast had stabilized and while we would have low winds for a good chunk of the passage to Australia it was good enough to head out. So today we would check out and provision for the passage. After a longer wait than typical, we flagged down a car. A nice couple drove us about half…
September 15, 2024
Provisions running a bit low I decided to head to Luganville to pick up a few things to hold us over until full provisioning the day before departure. I got very lucky and five minutes after hitting the road had a ride in the back of a pickup. It was a nice ride, waving to everyone as we bumbled along.…
September 10, 2024
We heard this town had a store, not really needing anything we decided to check it out anyway. Landing the paddleboards we realized that we were in someone’s backyard so Carl headed to seek permission. Thankfully they were okay with our intrusion and soon enough we walked across their property to the road. Three cute little girls probably five years…
September 9, 2024
We watched the stick in the shore to find high tide (along with help from the tide charts) and just before 8am started our slow march out of Oyster Bay. While not overly concerned there was still some anxiety crossing the pass. Thankfully our route was good and we saw a low of 0.7 meters beneath the keel. Turning north,…
September 2, 2024
Weeks since our last provisioning, it was time. Yesterday we flagged down a taxi driver and scheduled an 10am pickup. About twenty minutes early Roxy and I arrived at the spot and began waiting. A few taxis and a mini-bus stopped to ask if we needed a ride. We explained we had scheduled a pickup and were asked if we…